THE COLLEGE GOVERNORS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 741, 14 May 1886, Page 11

THE COLLEGE GOVERNORS.

DEPUTATION TO GOVERNMENT.

Yesterday week a deputation from the Board of College Governors, consisting or Mr J. R. Blair and Mr A. W. Browne, and the Secretary (Mr C. P. Powles) waited on the Premier to urge the Government to relieve the Board of the present debt of £SOOO on the College, and to make a grant for the construction of the Girls’ High School. Mr Blair pointed out that at present the Board was paying 7 per cent, interest on the debt, and year after year they had to come to the Government for funds. Consequently the Government would be effecting a saving if it placed the Board in a position to pay off the debt. He pointed out the difference between the treatment Wellington had received in educational matters, as compared with other cities in the Colony. Tha Premier replied that this wis not the only educational institution in the Colony which was in debt, and that the Government, if it assisted the Wellington College, would be called upon to similarly assist other institutions.

Mr Blair thought the matter might well be considered. He was satisfied that in a few years the Board could put aside money toward a fund for a new College. The present one, he pointed out, was now costing the Board a considerable amount every year for repairs. The Premier said the Government would be prepared to vote a third of the deot and lend another third, on condition that tbe Board raised the other third. With respect to the other parts of the Colony to, he said education had been assisted very largely in Canterbury by private munificence, and in Otago hundreds of pounds had been subscribed for the University library. He did notsee why the College Governors should notdo the same thing here as had been done in other places. As to the new building for the Girls’ High School, the main requirements were room and ventilation. They did not need an expensive building, and he advised them to make it a plain, useful structure. In Auckland the Girls* High School was carried on in a rented building. Mr Blair pointed out that the Board’s country reserves were of little use to them, for they had either to lease them at a very low rate, or let them lie useless, retarding settlement. The Premier suggested that he- should be supplied with a schedule of the Board’s reserves, and he pointed out that, in Otago, care had always beeu taken to have ample endowments for- educational purposes, and blamed the Wellington people for not having taken better care that provision should be made in the old provincial days for education. Mr Blair asked whether the Government would take over these reserves and give the Board others, which would be available at once. The Premier did not think they could. Railway construction aud roads, he added, would greatly increase the value of the Board’s reserves. Mr Blair then asked whether the Government would introduce a Bill to enable the lands to he more equitably dealt'with—a Bill similar to the Municipal Corporations Leasing Act. Tho Premier said he had introduced such a Bill in 1876, but he was then in a minority. Mr Brown suggested a Bill which should generally apply to Corporations, Harbor Boards, and other bodies. The Premier said that was a very good suggestion, and he should consider it. He advised the Board to try and create a greater interest in educational matters.

Mr Blair said a good deal of interest was taken. The Premier agreed that the Girls’ High School labored under disadvantages, and said he was surprised that such good work had been done. If they bad not had good teachers they could not have done such good wort. Mr Blair said the school, all things considered, was one of the best in the Colony. The Premier admitted that it was a very good school.. He would like to see them get a new building. He also suggested that they ought, in a small way at first, to lay the foundaiion of a University College for Wellington. His opinion was this, that every University College should gain a reputatiou for a specialty. One might befarred for arts, another for mines, and a third for medicine, aud a fourth in cognate sciences and astronomy. It was not over favorable to the country that there had not been some sort of astronomical observatory, which could be instituted in connection with the Wellington University College, to be aided in the work by Dr Hector. He further said it was a waste of means and power for an institution like the College to aim at everything ; it could not be done properly, as they had not sufficient funds to do it, and to have only a smattering of things only weakened them. Canterbury had arts on its side, also an Agricultural College ; Auckland had sciences, and taking into consideration the mineral deposits in its neigh, borhood it might make a specialty of mines. If a colonist wished his son to study a particular line, he could send him to the college which made this a specialty. If the Colleges were uuited as one University they would have harmony amongst them, and each would have Its special study. They might get professors from other colleges to give a couise of three months’ teaching in Wellington. These had been his views for years. Mr Blair said it was very likely going be-, yond tbe limits of the deputation, but he should like to ask if it was not possible to revise the whole system of examinations, for at present there were Civil Service examinations, matriculation examinations, teachers examinations, and so on. The Premier, replying, said he should like to do away wifcb. toachers examinations in order to establish a faculty of pedagogy. At the last meeting of the University Senate a Committee had been formed to consider this matter, which would be brought up next year. He was of opinion that the same examiner.* for the matriculation examinations could also take the Civil Service examination, and the latter could then be abolished. Mr Blair remarked there was an opinion prevailing that these numerous examinations were having an injurious effect on teachers and taught. The Premier promised to take a note of the objection that the lines were slightly different in preparation for the Civil Service aud matriculation examinations, as he thought to be uniform.

The interview came to an end by the Premier requesting the deputation to make a communication to him in writing on the subject and his promising to find out if the money for the previously mentioned proportion of the Girls’ High School could be borrowed from any fund. He would ascertain if there was such a fund.